Futura plus is the company with the most widespread sales network in Serbia and own distribution to support the company’s basic activity – wholesale and retail sale of consumer goods, newspapers, non-alcoholic beverages and confectionery.
In addition to being the leader in its segment in Serbia, Futura plus has established itself as one of the leading companies in this activity in south-eastern Europe.
In 2006, Futura plus opened the first of its Minut2 retail outlets, a true novelty in this part of the Balkans.
Contents |
Futura Plus is a young company, established in November 2006 by an integration of four Serbian socially owned companies that were unproductive at the time: the kiosk chains of “Duvan”, “Politika prodaja”, “Borba” and “Duvan promet”.
The merger was a result of a joint enterprise of EMI Denmark holding (owned by Stanko Subotić) and Belgrade, Serbia-based D Trade Ltd. on one hand, and German media giant WAZ on the other. In 2008 WAZ Media Group left Futura plus immediately after the Serbian Prosecution raised accusations against Stanko Subotic.[1]
Futura plus conducts retail sale (Minut2, kiosks, regional and depot centres) and wholesale operations (suppliers, publishers, advertising companies, purchases) and services in the fields of marketing, distribution and transport. With over 7,500 sq meters of sales space, supported by 1,200 points of sale and approximately 4,000 employees, Futura plus sells 700 titles of domestic and foreign publications, 640 types of kiosk goods as well as 880,000 copies of newspapers and magazines per day, relying on 200 transport vehicles and 111 suppliers.
Sometimes accompanied by cafes, these resemble the immensely popular outlets known in the US and Great Britain as “corner shops”. Such shops offer a wider product range than kiosks, and, thanks to a functional shelf design allowing for the best possible view of the commodities on sale, shopping only takes a minute or two. The world’s largest chain of such shops is 7 – Eleven.
The first outlet of this kind was opened in January 2007. A total of 20 operated countrywide by August of the same year.[2]
On June 4, 2009, Futura Plus minimized the distribution of the Večernje Novosti daily by lowering the number of distributed copies from 2.240 copies from the usual 54.000 copies per day. This followed the decision of Novosti AD to appeal in court for the payment of Futura Plus's outstanding debt towards the editor. It was claimed that the outstanding 90-days past due debt towards the company reached 53 million dinars.[3] At the same time it was claimed that the total debt of Futura Plus to the Media Association of Serbia companies (including non-past due) was at 180-250 million dinars at any given point.
The Media Association of Serbia made a decision to suspend all print media sales and halt the distribution of its editions to Futura Plus as of September 14, 2009. The decision was made jointly by Politika Newspapers and Magazines, Novosti AD, Ringier Srbija, Color Press Group, Press Publishing Group, Adria Media, Dnevnik (Novi Sad), and Ekonomist.[4] The decision was reached after it was concluded that the company is endangering the activities of the print media in Serbia due to the considerable outstanding debt to the members of the association.
Several times a year, Futura plus organises charity campaigns. In the summer of 2007, at the initiative of the Serbian Broadcasting Company (RTS) and the Belgrade Chronicle television programme, swimming pool tickets were bought for Belgrade kids who were unable to spend their vacations by the seaside. Introduced with the slightly older youngsters in mind, the Summer Ski Adventures campaign gave Belgraders an opportunity to try water skiing for free at the Ada Ciganlija Lake.